Butter, Butter, Butter…… BUTTER!

When I started this year, I knew that butter was highly rationed.  From what I have been following… butter costs 16 points per pound (that is most of my meat/ dairy rations for the whole week).  So at the beginning of this experiment, I bought my pound of butter and got ready to sssttttrrrreeeeeeccchhh.

To preserve my stretched butter – I only kept one stick of butter in the fridge, and the rest stayed in the freezer.  I did not know how I would do in keeping butter.

Much to my surprise… I finally used up the last of my pound of butter this week when I made a peach pie to share with my workplace.  I cannot believe my pound of butter lasted almost a full year.

How can this be?

Well I will state- in my regular life… I was not a big butter eater.  I liked butter on hot toast or beagles and often I fried my eggs in butter.  I use butter in making sweet breads and other baking… but that is it.

As I started this project – I knew butter was special and I tended to only use it on very special occasions.  I served it when guests came over, and used a full quarter of my supply to make an English breakfast, complete with scones and lemon curd, for a work party.  I rarely used butter for my food (except squash – nothing tastes better then butter on fresh baked squash).

I did discover… I use oil and Crisco in everything else.  Oil and Crisco were rationed, but they only cost 5 points per pound/ quart.  Most baking, a person can cut the oil in half anyways and it still tastes great.  When stretching meat… most of what I at were hot dishes made of a mixture of vegetables and meat.  Rarely did I add any oil or such.  Even this Christmas, I did not have time to make butter Christmas cookies because I was sewing a wedding dress for my sister-in-law.  So no butter used.

After all this… I was shocked to realize that I had grabbed a handful of butter packets when I was at a restaurant.  I had 4 containers of butter… and I used every single one on one piece of bread!  I never eat butter on my bread unless it is toasted.  But no, I realized that I missed eating butter.  Ohhhh…. It tasted sooooo gooood!  I did not realize how much I missed butter – how wonder it tastes.  The subtle sweet cream and the slightly salty that blends so well with the taste of bread.  I have to say that after not eating butter for most of the year –I LOVE BUTTER and I have MISSED BUTTER! 

I would not have known this if I had not given it up for so long.